What are some examples of bands which have used the same riff, solo, vocal melody, etc. more than once? I always think it's kind of funny to hear this sort of stuff, especially when you notice it yourself.

The solo in Obituary's "Inverted" and "Solid State", as well as this live version of the song "Dying" all feature pretty much the same solo. It's not note for note, but they all have similar structures and end with the same bluesy "weeeaah wah wahh" thing which is the most memorable part for me.

On a side note, Leif Edling himself (of Candlemass) also pointed out that the verse riff of "A Cry from the Crypt" sounded very similar to the verse riff of "At the Gallows End", but I don't really hear it all that much.

Holy Terror took the riff from Back to Reign by Agent Steel and made it infinitely better, faster, and overall just a greater song. Panzerfaust also sounded like it had taken some ideas from A blaze in the northern sky and reused them as well.

_________________

Malignanthrone wrote:

Thing is, Suicide Silence actually are more sonically massive than a good 95% of all the death metal bands in the Archives! Not metal, sure, but definitely a lot more brutal.

Under_Starmere wrote:

Manowar aren't the Kings of Metal. They're pretenders to a throne that doesn't exist.!

Iron Maiden often use older riffs but will play them backwards. The acoustic but at the end of the chorus of Wasting love and the verse before the chorus in Children of The Damned is the same riff, just played in reverse.

Rather interesting topic. I have nothing to contribute at this moment, but I'll be lurking around.

Edit:Actually, I remember some people saying that Megadeth used the same riff over and over, especially in the early albums, but to be honest I really don't see it. Obviously they use a lot of thrashy riffs that by nature sound a bit similar, but I don't really think that counts.

Joined: Sat May 20, 2006 2:07 amPosts: 392Location: United States of America

Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2012 4:50 pm

Isn't the music of Xasthur, for the most part, one big idea rehash?I can't point out any note-for-note examples but sometimes the riffs come so close to being carbon copies that you could mix and match pieces from different songs and a listener could still be hard-pressed to notice the change.

Some musicians have a signature thing that they do - Iced Earth's gallops are pretty notable, as well as the diminished lick that Jeff Loomis uses a lot in his solos.

When a musician uses something similar, I don't focus in the differences between the similar riffs, rather I focus on the context they use it in - what comes before and after it and how it interacts with other instruments. Sometimes the right part for a song has already been used by you or another, but it's a perfect fit.

I feel like every two enslaled albums are like this. For example, monumension and below the lights had a similar vibe, isa and ruun sounded a little similar, vertebrae and axioma ethica odini sounded familiar. They arent identical, but it's almost like you can hear they were thinking similar ideas in each set of two albums.

There's also two Impaled songs that have pretty much exactly the same riff/solo, but I can't remember which ones. I think they were on the same album, the debut. Don't know if that one is on purpose or not.

W.A.S.P. was the first band that came to mind for me. I'm sure they have plenty of examples but the identical main melodies for Wild Child and Crazy stands out the most.

Also, you could make a drinking game for all the times that Savatage motifs has popped up in later Savatage songs and also stuff by TSO and Jon Oliva's Pain. In addition to having the phrase "in the dark" be used at least once per album, they do repeat a lot of musical ideas that get reused. The most grating example is the way that TSO's "An Angel Returned" has the exact same vocal climax as Savatage's "Not What You See." They also have that weird cycle where "Believe" uses lyrics from "When The Crowds Are Gone" and "Alone You Breathe" uses lyrics from "Believe." Yet they're still one of my all-time favorite bands...

I know Annihilator is another band that reuses a lot of ideas. A subtle "Alice In Hell" reprise occurs at the end of "Brain Dance," "Syn. Kill 1" has a slowed down riff from "Refresh The Demon" as its main riff, "Liquid Oval" vaguely reminds me of "Phoenix Rising, "Shallow Grave" and "Nothing To Me" has fairly similar AC/DC-esque riffs, and I don't think I need to explain what "Back To The Palace" uses it as its inspiration...

Somehow I think it's unavoidable, because musicians are going to play in their own styles and are going to come up with similar sounding riffs and leads. You can say that they are ripping off their own music, but I would argue that even the best musicians are guilty of this.

Better than having all different sounding songs which rip off a variety of artists and styles.

It would also sound too chaotic if they don't rip off anybody but change the style of all the songs. It would not only be very hard to do, but it would probably sound like different bands.

Like with Running Wild, there's a certain guitar lick the Amorphis lead guitarist uses in half his solos in the band's more recent output, sometimes more than once. I don't feel like compiling a video though.

Well, I think when Virgin Steele did it they were trying to connect their songs and tie them up with a governing theme. In "Emalaith" for example a lot of other VS songs like "Weeping Of The Spirits" and "Life Among The Ruins" are alluded to lyrically and in "Sword Of The Gods", "Agony and Shame" and "Invictus" are alluded to musically. These, I gathered, were deliberate so the the listener could take in the series of albums ("The Marriage Of Heaven and Hell" and "The House Of Atreus") as pieces of a whole instead of as random songs without any apparent connection.

_________________Thrash Was Born In Bloody Stourbridge!

marktheviktor wrote:

I think the guys in Metallica suffer from a condition known as Metal Sclerosis: the cognitive disability to play metal anymore.

Symphony X riffs sound almost all alike to me to be honest, after a quick listen to the songs in this video, you at least have to admit they looooooove a certain chord very much.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xpu187-6OI

Yngwie Malmsteen definitely reuses riffs and melodic patterns a lot. Don't get me wrong, I love him, and that's his thing, but it's just kind of funny to hear 'new' music that's almost note-for-note identical to something he's done before.